Food Testing Equipment

Foods are all substances that supply energy and the components essential for growth and preservation of the vital functions when ingested. Their compositions must be defined in terms of proteins, carbohydrates and fats for their nutritional content, in conformity with the international standards (e.g. AOAC, AACC, TAPPI, UNI, ASTM, APHA, AWWA, WEF, EPA, DIN, ISO, etc.). Check your official method for food testing equipment specifications.

The innovative food testing equipment manufactured by Velp Scientifica, and supplied by Progen Scientific, provides substantial assistance to food and feed specialists involved in production and research.

Their equipment instructions usually include some commonly used official methods but contact Progen Scientific if you have a specific analysis requirement and we will contact Velp's Technical department for advice and a method suggestion from their extensive database. Alternatively, your samples can be sent to Velp for them to develop a suitable method.

If you would like to view our product range for food testing equipment click on the link. You can also telephone or enquire with one of our sales representatives for more information.

Digestion: The sample is heated at a high temperature after having been mixed with concentrated sulphuric acid and other reagents. An ammonium sulphate solution is obtained from this reaction.

Distillation: The sulphuric acid used for the digestion is neutralised with concentrated sodium hydrate solution. By adding an excess of alkali, the balance is shifted from ammonium ions to free ammonia (NH3) which separates through distillation in a current of steam and is collected in a suitable solution.

Titration: The quantitative determination of the ammonia produced can be done by means of acid base titration (colorimetric, potentiometric, etc.) or other systems. Afterwards, it will be easy to calculate the quantity of nitrogen (% proteins)

Velp Scientifica offers a complete package for Kjeldahl analysis, made up of a mineralisation unit, suction and fume neutralisation systems and distillation / titration units.

Digesters DK Series

The digesters DK series are a range programmable food testing equipment, controlled temperature heating blocks in which the samples can be digested in different size test tubes before proceeding to other analysis steps, mainly the Kjeldahl method for nitrogen quantitative determination.

The 7 models of DK Series digesters all have an adjustable temperature range from room temperature to a maximum of 450oC (+/- 0.5oC) and offer the following choices:

Acoustic signal at the end of the cycle with auto switch off on all models

Interface - RS232 on all models

LCD display on all models

Accessories - a comprehensive range of accessories are available for safety and operator convenience

According to methods: AOAC, EPA, DIN, ISO

Recirculating Water Pump and Scrubber for removal of fumes from Digestors

The SMS Scrubber unit can be connected to the tubes in the DK digestors by a suitable suction cap and consists of a condenser and neutralisation trap to safely remove and neutralise any hazardous fumes from the digestion process. The SMS Scrubber unit is then connected to the JP recirculation water pump which creates suction to draw the fumes into the SMS Scrubber unit. Any fumes which get past this process will be absorbed in the corrosion resistant recirculating water bath. Two different timed modes can be selected for the DK6 or DK20 digestors, ensuring optimum removal depending on the digestion phases and on the number of samples in the digestor the pump is connected to. The recirculating water pump saves dramatically on water consumption compared with wasteful common water pumps.

Distillation Units

Velp Scientifica have four models of food testing equipment for distillation to choose from depending on your budget or samples throughput:

Basic, manual model UDK127

Semi-automatic model UDK 132

Automatic model UDK 142 with possibility of connection to an external titrator

Automatic model UDK152 with integrated titrator

The individual product specifications give you the bebefits (such as unique titaniumcondenser, patented steam generator and alkali-resistant technopolymer splash head) as well as the extra time saving features as you progress from the UDK127 up to the UDK152

According to methods: AOAC, EPA, DIN, ISO

Solvent Extractors (using the Randall technique for the quantitative separation of substances using solvent)

The Randall technique first phase of extraction is performed by immersing a sample-containing thimble in boiling solvent followed by a washing with cold refluxing solvent. The fast solubilisation achieved by the hot solvent results in a sharp reduction in extraction time (compared against the original Soxhlet extraction method). The solvent is also recovered in the final extraction step for re-use. Velp Scientifica also offer a thinner (1 mm. wall thickness) cellulose thimble that allows the solvent's flow through the thimble's wall to be faster.

Raw Fibre Extractors

Vegetables and commercial products deriving from them are made up of substances belonging to different categories:

carbohydrates, proteins, fats, mineral salts

one non-digestible part consisting of polymers (lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin) called fibre

There are many reasons why it is important to determine the fibre content, and a few of the most important are:

Nutritional reasons

Economic reasons

Legislative reasons

Velp Scientifica has developed the FIWE 3 (3 position) and FIWE 6 (6 position) food testing equipment for determining raw fibre. These instruments are designed to optimise the operator's ease of handling while ensuring high reproducibility of the analytical results.

Cold Extractor

The samples that have to be subjected to calculation of the raw fibre must have less than 1% fat content. If the fat content is greater than 1%, you have to carry out preliminary extraction using acetone, hexane or petroleum ether. Velp Scientifica's COEX Cold Extractor was developed in order to make degreasing of the samples inside the crucibles that will then be used on the FIWE 3 or FIWE 6 solvent extractors for the consequent determination of raw fibre. The COEX holds 6 glass crucibles (supplied with instrument)

Dietary Fibre Extractors

Dietary fibre includes cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, pectin, rubbers and waxes. For determining dietary fibre by way of digestion with thermostable enzymes in foods and animal feeds, AOAC Method 985.20, Velp Scientifica has developed the GDE and CSF6 units in conformity with this method.

The GDE unit is the solution Velp Scientifica offers for getting even stirring of the sample and excellent thermoregulation precision during the delicate enzymatic digestion phase. It consists of a water bath with lid on top of a 6 position magnetic stirrer unit and connected to a temperature regulation unit

The CSF6 unit allows the final filtration and washing phase envisaged by the enzymatic method to be rationalised with considerable reduction of the time required. It can filter 6 samples simultaneously via 6 glass funnels and 6 glass crucibles supplied. Vacuum is supplied by an integral peristaltic pump (or this can be disconnected and a vacuum pump attached). The vacuum can be reversed to supply pressure to dislodge blockages during filtration and the unit is very compact for ease of operator use.

What is the difference between dietary fibre and raw fibre?

It is basically an analytical type of difference. Both the procedure for determining the dietary fibre and that for determining the raw fibre are aimed at calculating the indigestible residue of a food, or that is to say, everything that is not fats, proteins or carbohydrates. Whereas the procedure for determining dietary fibre envisages using enzymes, that for determining dietary fibre uses only chemical reagents (acids and bases).

The procedure for determining dietary fibre exposes the sample to a series of enzymatic digestions that simulate the real digestive process which takes place in the human and animal digestive tract, calculating the undigested residue remaining at the end of the analysis. The official analytical reference procedure is AOAC 985.29. On the other hand, in analysing raw fibre the sample is digested using diluted solutions of acids and bases, and here as well the final undigested residue of the starting food is measured. In this case the most widely used official procedure is the Weende method (official in Italy, france, england, Sweden and the U.S.A.).

Generally, dietary fibre analysis is carried out on foods for human nourishment, whereas raw fibre analysis is carried out on animal feeds or on raw materials of vegetable origin, e.g. cereals.

OXITEST Reactor for accelerated oxidation tests

By using the OXITEST instrument, it is possible to quickly estimate the oxidative stability of foods in the presence of an oxidative environment at high temperature (up to 95oC) and pressure (0 - 8 bar). In this way the oxidation process is speeded up and you can quickly observe the food's intrinsic resistance to growing rancid and thus its oxidative stability.

The instrument has two separate oxidation chambers for performing two analyses on the same food (duplicates) or for analysing different samples in the same operating conditions simultaneously. Dedicated software lets the operator follow and record the oxidative process inside the two reaction chambers and calculate the induction period.

Unlike traditional systems, OXITEST lets you make the analysis directly on the complete food without having previously separated the fats it contains, with the necessary associated activities being simplified and with the analyst saving a considerable amount of time.

Accessories supplied with the instrument: sample holder containers and spacers made of material highly resistant to chemical aggression that allow different types of foods to be analysed with different quantities of product Each single chamber can accommodate up to a 3 sample holder (up to 35 ml. capacity each)

Shelf- life: The reactions occurring between oxygen and several sensitive components of foods is one of the most imporatnt causes of quality alteration of food products. In patricular, autoxidation (or growing rancid) of fats contained in foods is recognised as being one of the main factors conditioning the shelf life (commercial life) of the foods.

This is why Velp Scientifica has developed OXITEST, an innovative research instrument able to provide very valuable additional information about the processes of fat oxidation in foods.

UFV measurement of unfilled volume in food packages

The term 'unfilled volume' (UFV) generally means the unoccupied volume of the food (solid or liquid) inside a sealed package. UFV is a very important parameter for a packaged food system, and its knowledge can be useful for both shelf life studies and designing food packages.

The Velp Scientifica UFV unit is an innovative solution able to simplify and quickly take the measurement of 'unfilled volume' (or 'head space') of food packages. The food testing equipment is a basic analytical solution both for the food industry for measuring the shelf life of packaged foods (estimate and forecast of the preservability and maintenance of the sanitary-nutritional quality of the product) and for the food product packaging industry for optimum design of the package (shapes, sizes, material savings, etc.).

UFV is a completely automatic instrument and is suited to a wide range of applications. It can indeed be used for any type of container, even with vacuum packaging. UFV comes with dedicated software that guides the operator step-by-step, simply and intuitively. The parameters measured (pressure and volume) are displayed on the PC the UFV is connected to with a serial socket-outlet in just a few minutes. When combined with gas chromatography instruments, the UFV also measures the composition of the package's 'head space'.

SFC5 Solid Fat Content Solution for fat thermal behaviour studies

Use of the analytical Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) technique for studying the htermal behaviour of fats contemplates that they be carefully prepared before the analysis is performed. It is, in fact, necessary to thermostat the samples at different temperatures in order to prepare them for the final measurement.

Velp Scientifica developed SFC5 food testing equipment for this purpose. It is an innovative instrument able to thermostat samples in the temperature range of 0 to 60oC, as required in the official sample preparation method. SFC5 is a compact unit that is one of a kind on the matket. It cools (with 0.1oC precision) samples for the subsequent determination by NMR.

The instrument is made up of 5 different blocks, each with 9 positions for housing 10 mm. NMR tubes. Each block has independent thermal regulation, with the set temperature shown on the display. Unlike normal thermostatted water baths, this feature lets SFC5 thermostat samples at the different temperatures required by the official method simultaneously.